


NCIS:LA Hiatus Fic Challenge #6

by IdrisTardis7878



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Densi - Freeform, F/M, Nallen, co-written with the lovely ifiknowyouatall, hiatus challenge fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 10:52:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16891191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdrisTardis7878/pseuds/IdrisTardis7878
Summary: Hiding a relationship is tricky. Hiding one with your co-worker when you're on a team full of secret agents is downright impossible.





	NCIS:LA Hiatus Fic Challenge #6

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr as part of the NCIS: LA Hiatus Challenge. Cowritten with tumblr user ifiknowyouatall. Original author's note to follow:
> 
> So first off, I want to say that any and all lateness on this entry into the challenge is entirely my fault. Second, I want to heartily thank the talented (and very patient) ifiknowyouatall for putting up with my shenanigans. It was a true pleasure to collaborate with you on this!!!! We hope you all enjoy this bit of Nallen, with a dollop of background Densi!!!!
> 
> [Oh, and the lines of *** mark where we switched off writing the sections.]

Two of the bullpen’s three occupants were in jovial moods.  Surprising, not because of the serious nature of their jobs, but because they’d been out late the night before on an undercover assignment.

The third, Sam, was unaccustomed to sitting on the sidelines; his stint in the surveillance van with Eric had left him feeling antsy and itchy.  Although, that was also probably due to the cast on his right wrist, although he’d never admit it.

He had to laugh though, when his table mate pulled an old coat hanger out of his satchel and handed it over.

“Broke my wrist when I was ten, this was like my best friend for 6 weeks.” Deeks joked while Kensi rolled her eyes, moving past him to make her way to the coffee on the table behind them.

“I can handle a cast.  I’m not a child.” Smiling, he took the bent piece of metal anyway.

“Do it for me man. Kensi refuses to clean out the closet, but I’m making a dent one piece of clothing at a time.  Her ugly green shirt used to hang off of this…without a home, she’ll have to burn it.”

The accused hoarder came back with two coffees, handed one to Deeks and perched herself on the end of the table.

“Back me up Sam.  His fashion sense is much worse than mine.  I’m still trying to get rid of all his ugly sweatshirts.”

“I am not stupid, or bored, enough to get in the middle of some domestic spat.  Keep it at home you two.”

“Speaking of homes and domestic spats, where is our fearless leader? Joelle can’t be happy with the hours we’ve been keeping.  I mean, four nights in a row of clubbing with some fine women.” Deeks nodded towards the petite redhead who had just entered the room while squeezing the shoulder of his partner, still perched by his side. “If my ladybird wasn’t along for the ride, I know it would make her jealous.”

“I’m right here and it would not.” Smiling through her protests, she greeted her colleague, acknowledging the bedraggled, slightly tired, almost weary look the younger woman wore. “Rough night, Nell?”

She grunted something as she proceeded, sunglasses still on, towards the coffee. As her back was still turned, she heard the fifth member of the team enter the room.  But it wasn’t hard to picture the goings-on based on the audio clues.  She didn’t have to be an analyst to figure out that their cover was about to be blown.

“Morning G.” Sam, keeping it cool, was biding his time, but there was definitely a hint of mischief in his voice.

“Morning Callen.” Kensi was barely containing her laughter and was certainly  _not_ looking Deeks in the eye.

“Mor…is that a…wow…just…wow…you gotta explain…wow.” She heard Kensi’s fist contact Deeks’ bicep and used that as her clue to turn around.

***

Clutching her coffee mug like a lifeline, Nell took in the scene in front of her. Sam’s twinkling eyes and knowing smile were exactly as she’d pictured before she turned to face the group, and Kensi was rolling her eyes at Deeks while he rubbed his arm and pouted up at her.

“Oww, really, Kensalina?! Isn’t it a little early for that kind of thing?”

Kensi shook her head at her partner, smiling as she replied. “Leave the man alone, Deeks.”

“C’mon, you’re not even the slightest bit curious? That’s a pretty gigantic hickey, after all,” Deeks drawled, a tinge of awe coloring his voice.

“What it  _is_  is none of our business,” Kensi hissed.

“Look, I’m just surprised,” Deeks replied softly, abruptly seeming to realize that Nell and Sam were both observing their conversation. “And kinda impressed. I didn’t think Joelle was the type.”

Whatever Kensi said in response was lost to Nell, whose eyes shifted to follow Callen as he did his best to ignore the bickering couple and moved to put his things down at his own desk.

 _Joelle. Of course. They don’t know._  Nell breathed a soft sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t be discovered. She moved to cross behind the long table Deeks and Sam shared in an attempt to edge discreetly out of the bullpen altogether, but she made the mistake of glancing back over her shoulder for just a few seconds.

Three things seemed to happen nearly simultaneously – and as they did, all her hopes of a clean getaway were dashed.

First, she locked eyes with Callen, a spark of awareness zinging through her instantly and causing the corners of her mouth to tug upwards in an involuntary grin. Second, Callen’s answering smile – and his utter non-reaction to whatever Sam was saying to him – garnered Kensi’s attention. Nell noticed her friend’s dark ponytail swishing back and forth as Kensi’s head swiveled between Callen and where Nell stood on the periphery of the bullpen, and she had just enough time to glimpse the understanding that flickered through Kensi’s widening eyes before she turned away.

And third, she crashed straight into Eric who was barreling down the hallway and heading for the stairs to Ops at precisely the worst possible moment.

“Ahhh!!” she cried as her – thankfully lukewarm – coffee splashed its way over her shirt and down her jeans. So much for making  _any_ sort of getaway, clean or otherwise. “Well, crap,” she muttered looking down at her ruined outfit.

“Nell, I’m  _so_  sorry!!” Eric exclaimed, continuing to offer up a mixture of apologies and explanations for why he’d been rushing through the corridor in the first place, but she waved him off. “Are you okay?”

“It’s alright, Eric. I’m fine. I just need to go clean up,” she said, taking the first opportunity she could to duck into the ladies’ room. As the door closed behind her with a soft click, she breathed a sigh of relief. It hadn’t been the ideal way to get out of the bullpen, but at least she didn’t have to worry any longer about whether the secret she’d been keeping for the past month was about to be shared with the entire team.

***

Pulling a wad of paper towels out and wetting them, she focused all her nervous energy on getting the stain out of her white shirt.  Hetty would be aghast at her lack of situational awareness, but she didn’t hear Kensi picking the lock and jumped as the taller woman’s image in the mirror appeared before her as she looked up.

In Kensi’s hand was a plain black fitted v-neck T-shirt.

“It’s my spare.  I keep one here now, since, well, since the same thing happened to me the first morning I woke up with Deeks.  It should fit you well enough.  It’s a good thing you wore jeans today.”

“Yup.  Guess I was lucky about something this morning.”

“You do know that I spend most of my time with Marty Deeks.  That was a softball if I’ve ever heard one.  But I’m not going to ask you Nell.  Because it’s none of my business.  You’re both adults and it’s not like I’m one to talk about mixing business and pleasure.  Just…just be careful.”

The shorter redhead didn’t say anything as she pulled off her coffee stained shirt and pulled on Kensi’s.  Her friend was almost out the door when she finally got the courage to speak.

“I’m only a year younger than you, you know.  I’m not a child.” Her almost petulant voice giving away her greatest fear about whatever it was she and he were doing these days.

“Is that what you think I meant? No.  I meant be careful with him.  He’s more broken than any of us.  And if he let you in…don’t take that lightly.”

“I don’t.”

Kensi left, giving Nell a chance to breathe on her own before she too exited the bathroom.  She didn’t go to refill her coffee cup, rather, she made a beeline straight for the safety of Ops.

Callen, not aware of what had transpired in the ladies room, quickly followed her with a flimsy excuse of wanting to check on her since they’d been partnered on the op the night before.

***

“Nell, wait.”

She’d reached the top of the stairs and had almost made it to the sliding doors enclosing the safe haven of her workspace when Callen’s soft uttering of her name reached her. She stopped with a sigh, but didn’t turn around. They’d had enough close calls this morning already, she knew if she looked at him she’d want to step closer. She’d want to reach out and touch him, tangle their fingers together and pull herself into the circle of his arms. She wanted it  _so_  badly – which is precisely why she stayed exactly where she was. Kensi figuring out their secret was one thing – chancing Hetty seeing something on the security cams was quite another.

“Hey, are you okay?” he’d caught up to her now, his voice coming from just over her shoulder. He was close enough that she could feel the heat from him radiating along her back. In other words,  _too_  close for them to be standing together at work. She automatically took a step forward, putting a safer amount of distance between them.

All of a sudden, she felt incredibly tired. When Callen had broken up with Joelle and they’d found themselves gravitating towards one another, it had been exciting, heady, and the realization of something she’d been wanting for ages but had long told herself it was hopeless to wish for. It also had a feeling of  _rightness_  that shook her a little. But for all that, she’d prided herself on keeping her wits about her – she’d known that navigating whatever was growing between them wouldn’t be easy. As she’d told Kensi, she wasn’t a child.

Yet in this moment she felt incredibly foolish. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, starting with  _why haven’t you told anyone that you and Joelle are through?_ and ending with  _this could be so much more – if you’d only let it be_. But now was not the time, and it  _definitely_  was not the place, so she voiced none of it. Clearing the tumultuous thoughts from her mind with a decisive nod of her head, she looked quickly back at him before stepping through the doors to Ops.

A bright, false smile that she knew didn’t fool him was fixed on her face as she muttered a response before the doors slid closed behind her. “I’m fine.”

Maybe if she kept saying it, she’d start to believe it herself.


End file.
